Notes from Field and Study 



229 



perched upright, one daw over ils entangled 

 wing, and ils eyes closed. After a little 

 diiriculty, I managed to release it, and, 

 upon examination, found that none of 

 the tendons of the wing were injured, but 

 that the wing feathers were badly twisted 

 and broken. It must have put up a pretty 

 hard tussle before giving up, as it offered 

 no resistance when I was releasing it, 

 outside of a few clicks witii its bill. 



I carried it to a bunch of e\(T};reens 

 near-by, and there released it. A couple 

 of times it uttered a note very similar to 

 the mew of a kitten — the same note that 

 this Owl SI) oflcn utters durin.u tlie eve- 

 ning. 



This is the first time that I have found 

 a bird entangled, alive; but many times 

 I ha\e seen the dead bodies of Coots, 

 Blue-winged Teal, Blackbirds, and others, 

 dangling from the barb-wires. — Adri.vn 

 Larsen, Sioux Falls, S. D. 



Note on the White-throated Sparrow 



In the March-April minilKT of Bird- 

 Lore, I notice that I'mf. \\ . \V. Cooke 

 records the White-lliroated Si)arrow as 

 "Rare, winter," in IMiiladeiphia. I liave 

 studied bird-life in I'hiladeijjhia for the 

 past ten years and ha\e always found 

 the White-throated Sparrow to Ijc a 

 common winter resident, arriving about 

 September 20, and leaving in May. 

 During this time the bird is often in song, 

 especially on moderate days, just before 

 sunset and early in the morning. In fact, 

 the White-throat is one of the roninion- 

 est winter birds in Fairmount I'ark and 

 Germantown, Philadelphia. -.\. F. IIac.ar, 

 Princeton, N. J . 



A Vireo Courtship 



For sheer persistence in singing, the 

 Red-eyed Vireo finds few rivals on his 

 breeding-ground. The heat of summer 

 does not silence him; the molting period 

 depresses him surprisingly little. He 

 spends thirteen weeks with us of uninter- 

 rupted cheerfulness and energy expressed 

 in song. All day, until the sun sets, he 



sings, just pausing long enough between 

 his clear-cut, rapid phrases to snatch up 

 and swallow his food, until sunset, then he 

 is silent. 



In the morning twilight, when it is too 

 dark to see clearly, half an hour before 

 day, he sings without pause. Now, the 

 phrases follow each other very rapidly 

 and evenly with pulse-like regularity; 

 in sixtj' seconds he gives eighty. 



I once met this voluble, energetic bird 

 in a quiet mood, and at the time I made 

 this note of its actions (it was in Lexing- 

 ton, Mass., on May 30, 1909): 



"This afternoon about six o'clock, I 

 saw a pair of Red-eyed Vireos acting in a 

 manner new to me. They were in a small 

 gray birch tree, twelve feet from the 

 ground, and almost over my head. The 

 two birds were very near each other; so 

 near that their bills might have touched, 

 althougli lh<\ (lid not. The male, or at 

 least the bird who played the active role, 

 faced the side of the other bird, so that 

 Ihrir bodies were at right angles. The 

 bird who. from her {)assive actions, I 

 assumed, but jierhaps wrongly, to be the 

 female, sat crouched low on her perch, 

 with the feathers slightly puffed out. But, 

 although in the attitude of a sick bird, 

 she apjuared in good health, I thought, 

 and I am certain, that she gave close 

 attention to the strange actions of her 

 comi)anion. The bird I have called the 

 male, and I think it is safe to so consider 

 him, was constantly in motion. He rocked 

 his body, especially his head, from side to 

 to side, his bill sweeping over the up])er 

 l)arls of the other bird, never touching 

 her, nor, indeed, coming very near it, for 

 his head was above and a little to one 

 side of her back. In swinging from side 

 to side, he moved slowly, but with a tense- 

 ness suggesting strong emotion. In con- 

 trast to the fluffy female, the feathers of 

 the male were drawn closelj' about him, 

 so that he looked slim and sleek. The 

 neck seemed constricted, giving him a 

 strangled appearance. 



"Neither bird opened its beak, but one 

 of them continually uttered, with no sug- 

 gestion of \'ireo jyhrasing, some faint notes 



